A wee tour of (some of) my favourite watering holes in the British Isles.
I'll start, like the original poster, in Dublin. No end of great booers, but one of my favourites is Mcdaids - a great old literary pub just off grafton street
Across Ireland to Galway, and I could pick any one of the pubs on quay street really, but Tig Coili sneaks it for great Guinness and live session music every day. Class.
Up to Belfast now and one of the architectural gems of this country - a cathedral for the working classes - The Crown Liquor Saloon
Across to northern scotland and one for film buffs - The pennan inn, from the wonderful "Local Hero" - you can even make a call from the phone box across the road
Glasgow is full of good traditional pubs of course, but one of my favourites is not a pub as such - The Rogano is a restuarant, but is also a bar and the whole plce is an art deco masterpiece. The decor was done at the same time and in the same style as the Queen Mary which was being fitted out on the Clyde a the time it opened.
For a more traditional Scottish pub, you could do worse than the Oxford Bar in Edinburgh - which also happens to be the haunt of both Inspector Rebus and his creator Ian Rankin.
Home territory now, and the wonder that is the Peveril of the Peak in manchestoh. Defiantly standing it's ground among the modern city dross
Down South to yer London, and for me the best pubs are those on the river. There's a few in the heart of the city, but there's nowt better than The City Barge between Kew and Hammersmith
Couldn't finish without a mention for the most chilled out watering hole of all - the Fraggle Rock on the island of Bryher in the Scilly Isles. It's as remote as you can get and there is truly nowhere better on a hot day with a old beer and a crab sandwich.
Right - after all that I need to go for a Guinness now....